Blue Minerals Jamaica and the United Nations-backed International Seabed Authority have signed a 15-year contract for the exploration of polymetallic nodules at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, Kallanish reports.

The agreement gives BMJ an area of almost 75,000 square kilometres in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean in its search for nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese.  The nodules are typically found unattached on the sea bottom. That zone lies between Mexico and Hawaii and is as big as the continental United States. The company’s exploration area is made up of parts of the reserved areas contributed by UK Seabed Resources Ltd, the government of the Republic of Korea and the Interoceanmetal Joint Organization.

The system of so-called reserve areas ensures that developing countries can access deep-sea mineral resources. Reserved areas are contributed when states apply to the ISA for exploration rights. They are then held in a site bank which is reserved for access by developing countries or enterprise.

The agreement with BMJ marks the 19th contract for the exploration of deep-sea polymetallic nodules in the international seabed area and the 31st contract counting polymetallic sulphides and ferromanganese crust deep-sea contracts. The contract makes Jamaica the second Caribbean island and the sixth small island to sponsor a contractor for Pacific exploration. The contract is sponsored by the Jamaican government.

The agreement marks the starting point for the company’s five-year work plan and will focus of exploration of its licence area as well as setting the baseline for its environmental planning.

“Blue Minerals Jamaica is proud to be a part of the development of an industry which, under the regulatory control of the International Seabed Authority, is providing industrial opportunities to developing countries such as Jamaica, while at the same time engaging in sustainable minerals collection,” says BMJ director Peter Jantzen in a statement.

The company’s application with the Jamaica-based ISA was filed on 4 June. The ISA then confirmed that the project met conditions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the 1994 Agreement and ISA Exploration Regulations.

Supporters say such deep-sea collection or mining can be done at low cost and with minimal environmental impacts. Critics say the impacts are unknown and untested and it is unclear who will oversee such mining operations in international waters. The ISA is looking at releasing new rules in July.